Dear !*TITLE*! !*LASTNAME*!,
We started off our autumn season with the traditional FCCJ Yakatabune Cruise last Thursday, 23 August. The event was again a great success and sold out. Read more below and also link the link to the event report were you find some interesting pictures on how the stalwarts of Finnish business in Japan relax between their demanding duties.
We will have our September event in cooperation with the ACCJ who has kindly invited us to join their luncheon meeting with Tony Tyler, the Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). We think this will be of interest to many of our members, so read more about this event below and sign up directly with us.

Report from the Finnair AY4159 - Honka HJ4169 Yakatabune Cruise

The Chamber started off the Autumn season in style and with some great fun with the Finnair AY4159 - Honka HJ4169 Code Share Yakatabune Cruise on Thursday 23, August.
We had chartered our own Yakatabune boat which departed from at Asakusa touring down Sumida River to Odaiba and back in 2.5 hours. During the cruise we enjoyed great Japanese tempura-sashimi dinner and drinks in the "all-you-can-eat & drink" .
The event attracted 52 participants and made affordable by the support of our sponsors, Finnair and Honka Japan.
For a lot of pictures from the event, click link at right.

Wednesday, 19 September - American Chamber Event
Maximizing Aviation's Power for Japan
Please join the ACCJ for a special event featuring Tony Tyler, the Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and former CEO of Cathay Pacific Airways.
Aviation is an important industry for Japan. It contributes over 3 trillion yen to the Japanese GDP and supports over 400,000 jobs. Moreover, aviation-enabled connectivity is the backbone of the Japanese economy linking business to global markets and people to global experiences. Without aviation's connectivity, Japan would be a very different place. But could a more competitive aviation sector play an even bigger role in shoring-up Japan's economy?
Details:

Japanese aviation industry is at a turning point. Infrastructure capacity is creating new opportunities. The low-cost sector is taking off and the governments is planning to double the 2010 international tourist arrivals to some 18 million by 2016. However, Japan ranks 137th among the 139 countries surveyed on price competitiveness in the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. What measures--policy or otherwis--are needed to ensure that aviation in Japan delivers on its potential?
Mr. Tyler will share his views on what is needed for a more competitive aviation sector in Japan and the future of global aviation.
Before taking the helm of IATA in July 2011, Mr. Tyler held numerous positions at Cathay Pacific Airways including CEO, COO and Director of of Corporate Development. Early in his career, Tyler was posted in Osaka and has maintained strong contacts with Japan ever since.
If you would like to attend, please click link at right to register. We will take registrations and also collect the fee at the venue.

Friday, 28 September - The North-America - Europe Golf Challenge in Japan Mercedes-Benz Japan Cup 2012
The 10th Anniversary North America - Europe Golf Challenge in Japan, the Mercedes-Benz Japan Cup 2012, will be played on Friday, 28 September, at the same venue as in previous years, the Atsugi Kokusai Country Club in Kanagawa Prefecture.
The organizing task-force is working hard to make this 10th Anniversary event a memorable one for all participants. Among other exciting new features, and as an added bonus, we will have an "after-party", free for all players with their significant other at the Mercedes-Benz Connection in Nogizaka (opposite Tokyo Midtown) on Thursday, 4 October.
Registration
The participation fees are same as last year, i.e. a 3,000 yen non-refundable registration fee and a 21,000 yen fee (paid to the club) for the play, caddie, lunch and party and a lot of great prizes, and the after-party, for a total of 24,000 yen. Note that bus transportation is free for the 40 first to sign-up for it.
Sponsoring the event
If you want to promote your company through this event, and its web site, please sign up as a sponsor.
Your contribution could be either money or goods/services. Sponsorship starts from 40,000 yen (100,000 yen in goods services).
To sign-up as player and/or sponsor, please click link at right.

URGENT REMINDER FROM THE EBC ABOUT: Production of Year 2012 White Paper Sponsorship and Orders
We are requesting EBC members and friends to sponsor the publication as "Blue- Star Sponsors", "Special Sponsors" or "Sponsors" in return for visible acknowledgment in the 2 volumes (English and Japanese). All levels of company sponsors will have their logo or name (depending on the level of sponsorship) placed on the EBC website for 12 months.
The EBC is also taking orders for the white papers at 5,000 yen for one set (1 English and 1 Japanese version per set). The names of companies placing advance orders will also be listed as "Supporters" in the report and website as this visible support is important in authenticating and establishing credibility of the report as mentioned above.
We would appreciate your response as soon as possible to enable us to move ahead with production of the report. As always, we look forward to receiving your highly valued support of the white paper.
For details, click link at right.

Request from HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences: Invitation to join an online brainstorm on the future of executive assistants
We kindly ask you to participate in our research project called Assistant 2020. In order to get an international perspective to the study we are utilizing a modern way to gather people's viewpoints on the future role of management assistants in organizations. What kind of skills does an executive assistant need and what is her/his job design like in the year 2020?
Please, share your thoughts and ideas on the topic through the online brainstorm, at

Your answers will be anonymous, some background information will be asked for the purpose of data analysis. We plan to make some comparisons on the viewpoints according to countries or geographic areas, according to professions, age groups and so on. We would very much appreciate if you could also invite other people to join the brainstorm (this can be easily done at the end of the brainstorm). We are especially interested in the future insights of your executives and managers as well as human resources and development responsible people in organizations.
HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences is based in Helsinki, Finland and this research is conducted in the Management Assistants Education Unit. We will be using the results of the study in developing our curriculum, and will also publish an English language report on the project next spring (2013). Should you wish to be added to the mailing list and receive an online link to that document, you can express that also at the end of the brainstorm.
The same brainstorm has been open in Finnish language since June, 2012. On an average, people have used about 14 minutes to answer. Should you have to cut short your session, don't worry: it's perfectly all right to answer again! In fact the net interview is always a little different because you are also asked to evaluate others' opinions (randomly picked from the database) by indicating their importance on a dartboard. So, it's desirable to have multiple answers: you can participate as many times you wish.
The brainstorm is open and available until the end of October, 2012.

News from FinlandPM Katainen to visit Japan
Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen will pay a five-day visit to Japan starting next Sunday. The purpose of the visit is to strengthen political and economic relations between Finland and Japan.
During the visit, the Prime Minister will meet Japanese ministers to discuss the global economic situation and cooperation among Asian countries. Katainen will also learn about Japan's plans for new energy policy guidelines.
A delegation of Finnish businessmen will accompany Katainen on his trip.
While in Japan, the Prime Minister will also meet senior management representatives of major Japanese corporations.
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Katainen's programme will include a visit to the opening of the remodelled Iittala department at a large Tokyo department store. Princess Takamado of Japan will also attend the event.

Grin of the WeekSwap wife for a season ticket?
Sarah was reading a newspaper, while her husband was engrossed in a
magazine. Suddenly, she burst out laughing.
"Listen to this," she said. "There's a classified ad here where a
guy is offering to swap his wife for a season ticket to the stadium."
"Hmmm," her husband said, not looking up from his magazine.
Teasing him, Sarah said, "Would you swap me for a season ticket?"
"Absolutely not," he said.
"How sweet," Sarah said. "Tell me why not."
"Season's more than half over," he said.

If you have any comments, rumors, gossip or inside information, send it to: fccj@gol.com

ABOUT THIS BULLETIN
This bulletin is
published by the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ) and
distributed to over 650 recipients among its members and related
organizations. FCCJ was established in April 1999 to promote trade and
economic exchange between Japan and Finland and has today 62 corporate
members, 12 individual and one special member.